Water quenching, how much harder?

[supv26]

I am using range scrap to cast with. The last 3 batches I did I let them air cool. Yesterday I did about 500 boolits but this time I dropped them in cold water. I do not have a hardness tester so will there be a noticable amount of hardness between the two? I cannot scratch them with my thumbnail but I couldn't the others either.

I think I read sonewhere that you can do a hardness test by smashing them in a vice. Put one of each in a vise butt to butt and smash them. The harder one will hold it's shape longer than the softer one. Makes sense so I guess I will try it.

[HeavyMetal]

Never had the vise test work for me!

A good sized vise can be used as a make shift press and, as such, can generate pressure beyond what a lead alloy can handle. Both boolits have squassed exactly them same in my few trys and I learned nothing except that I will always keep my fingers out of a vise!

Try it and see if you have better luck than I did. In the end I think you'll get a hardness tester.

The Lee is probablely the best for the dollar amount but requies very steady hands.

However it does give readings in BHN numbers which makes it very easy to determine the best pressure range for the alloy your using. All of this information comes in the Lee tester and is in the current reloading manual Lee publish's.

[NuJudge]

Response to quenching will largely depend on what's in the Lead. If it's just .22LR spent bullets it will perhaps only have Antimony in it and the response will not be much. If it has cast pistol bullets in it, then it should have a good bit of Tin, Antimony and Arsenic and the response should be considerable. Response to quenching also depends on the thickness of what you are quenching, with a water dropped 6.5mm bullets coming out harder than a .375" cast from the same alloy. Different quench media should make a difference, but my readings say that different water temperatures will not make a difference (adding salt to the water should, but who wants to risk salt in their bore).

Experts in classifying minerals usually use very rough methods of comparing the hardness of a given rock, and I don't feel the need for more. Softest is something cut by a fingernail, next is just marked by a fingernail, next is polished by a fingernail, then no effect from a fingernail. Hardest is that it rings when dropped on a concrete floor, but I've only achieved that will small diameter bullets.

CDD

[Char-Gar]

Increasing bullet hardness is often counter productive. Water quenching is also inferior in uniformity to oven tempering of bullets. I know that "water droping" is popular now days among some, but it is not a cure all and is often the cause of problems.

[supv26]

My boolits are cast from a Lee TL-452-230-2R mold. The range scrap is 98% .40 caliber jacket hollow points and full metal jackets. There will be some odd stuff in there from 22lr to silver tipped stuff to any type of ball ammo.

[Ricochet]

That range scrap will harden way up if it's properly heated and quenched. Even pure .22 bullets will. Won't reach full hardness for a week or two. Problem with water dropping from moulds is keeping a consistent temperature, and one high enough to put the antimony in solid solution. Let a bullet cool too much before it hits the water, and it's lost a lot of its hardening potential.

[OLPDon]

I have been using range scrape for at least 10 yrs. and I use the water drop, more for speeding up the casting process. My range scrape comes up to between 16 and 18 bhn. The usual range fair of cast boolits some full metal jackets, and 22's. I run my melt on the hot side as most my guns like frosted boolits. When using rifle hard boolits work best. As stated above if you water drop boolits will harden 2 to 3 weeks and I have had them stay pretty much the 16 to 18 for several yrs. If you size your boolits to do it within a week of casting if water droped. I have waited to size boolits and it sure gives my 450 lyman a workout but it can be done but it puts quite a bit of stress on the sizer.
Don